1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to apparatus and methods for toting or carrying things, and more specifically relates to a tote apparatus that attaches to a cooler.
2. Background Art
Containers such as ice chests, insulated jugs, and vacuum bottles have been used for decades to keep a variety of food items and drinks hot or cold, as desired. For the sake of convenience and clarity, these ice chests, jugs, and bottles are generically referred to herein as coolers, recognizing that the insulated properties of these containers make them well suited for either hot or cold food or beverages. Coolers come in many different sizes and configurations.
One common use of a cooler is on a family picnic to a park. When the family arrives at the park, all of the picnic supplies must be unloaded from the vehicle and carried to the desired picnic area. Typically this involves many trips back and forth between the vehicle and the picnic area. One trip is generally required to carry the cooler, which may contain meat and condiments that need to be kept cold. Additional trips are also required to carry the other picnic supplies that do not have to be kept cold, such as chips and buns.
There are known coolers and attachments to coolers that provide pockets for carrying things. Examples of these are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,445,276 issued Aug. 29, 1995 to Gordon; 4,640,392 issued Feb. 3, 1987 to Decker et al. and assigned to Igloo Corporation; 4,468,933 issued Sep. 4, 1984 to Christopher; and Des. 316,012 issued Apr. 9, 1991 to Christopher. The two patents to Christopher disclose coolers that are manufactured with pockets. The configuration in the Christopher patents would require a consumer that wants pockets on a cooler to purchase a new cooler. While special-purpose coolers with pockets may be useful for the first-time buyer of a cooler, there are literally millions of coolers that are currently in use. Owners of existing coolers could greatly benefit from a separate attachment that could be purchased and fitted on the cooler at home by the user. In addition, known coolers and tote devices generally have relatively small pockets, allowing a person to store sunglasses, sunblock, or similar small items in these pockets, but none allow for the toting of large items.
Therefore, there existed a need for a multi-pocketed tote apparatus that has relatively large pockets and that may be easily retro-fitted onto an existing cooler.